Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/160

 146 GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY time were worshiped by usages that were in many respects quite characteristic of the worship of the dead. In earlier times we hear usually of only a single Lar familiaris, who protects and represents hearth and home; afterwards, however, they always appear in pairs. Little wooden images of them, very much alike, were placed above, or near, the hearth in the atrium; and at every meal, and especially on the Calends, Nones, Ides, and at all family festivals, the matron of the house offered to them a little food and a fresh wreath. Under the term del Penates, divinities whose images were likewise placed near the hearth, were included all the gods that were regarded as protectors of the pro- visions (penus) in the house, without its being necessarily true that the same gods were everywhere meant. Janus, Juppiter, and Vesta, are named among them. From the individual house their functions, like those of the Genii, were transferred to society in common, and consequently Penates publicl were worshiped on the common hearth in the temple of Vesta. 190. (2) Divinities entirely peculiar to the Eoman faith, not represented as having any distinguishing characteris- tics as individuals, were the Indigetes (' those acting within'), i.e. whatsoever spirits were supposed to bring about individual acts in particular persons or things. To each one of these divinities only a single, strictly defined action was ascribed, which was exactly expressed by the divinity's name; it was therefore necessary to take heed to call for help upon exactly the right Indiges, and at the right moment. Consequently the Pontifices, a college of priests who had a decisive superintendence over these matters, as well as over other questions of worship, in